As Winter session enters final lap, Rajya Sabha to take up some pending Bills

18 Bills with allotted discussion time of over 43 hours on unfinished agenda for Rajya Sabha

Upper House to discuss role of Arunachal Pradesh, price rise

Lower House to take up Payment of Bonus and National Waterways Bills

12 Bills passed and 6 introduced in Lok Sabha during this session so far; 1-0 in Rajya Sabha

With only 3 sittings left next week for the current Winter session of Parliament and hardly any legislative business transacted in Rajya Sabha so far, the All Party meeting convened by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha on Friday this week raised the prospects of passage of some of the pending Bills in the Upper House during the remainder of this session.

A total of 18 Bills for which the Business Advisory Committee of Rajya Sabha has allotted a total of 43.50 hours for discussion is on the unfinished agenda of the House. Of these, the House is likely to take up The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Bill, 2015, The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill,2015, The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill,2015, The Appropriation Bills pertaining to Supplementary Demands for Grants (General) for 2015-16 and Excess Demands for Grants (General) for 2012-13, all passed by the Lok Sabha during this session and The Whistle Blower Protection (Amendment) Bill,2015, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill,2015, as passed by the Lok Sabha earlier and The Child Labour (Protection and Regulation) Amendment Bill,2012, on which the Standing Committee presented its Report in December,2013.

Rajya Sabha is also likely to discuss next week the role of Governor of Arunachal Pradesh as agreed to by the Government at the All Party Meeting besides growing intolerance endangering the unity and diversity of the country and prices of essential commodities and food grains.

Lok Sabha during next week will take up The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill,2015 and The National Waterways (Amendment) Bill,2015 for which discussion time of 2 and 3 hours respectively has been allotted.

Besides, the Lower House will take up short duration discussion on the situation in Nepal and the State of Indo-Nepal relations and resume discussion on Sustainable Development Goals, which was part discussed during the last session.

Work done during Winter session so far

During the current Winter session that commenced on November 26th, 12 Bills have been passed by Lok Sabha while 6 new Bills have been introduced.

Bills Passed were : The Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill,2015, The Bureau of Indian Standards Bill,2015, The High Court and the Supreme Court Judges (salaries and Conditions of Service) Amendment Bill,2015, The Indian Trustees(Amendment) Bill,2015, The Industries (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill,2015, The Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill,2015, The Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill,2015, Discussion and Voting on Supplementary Demands and Excess Demands for Grants and the related Appropriation Bills, The Sugar Cess (Amendment) Bill,2015, The Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts (Amendment) Bill,2015 and The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill,2015.

All the 6 new Bills introduced relating to arbitration and conciliation, commercial jurisdiction of High Courts, atomic energy, payment of bonus to workers, industries and sugar cess were passed by the Lok Sabha.

Lower House held two day special discussion on commitment to the Constitution the occasion of 125th Birth anniversary of Dr.BR Ambedkar besides taking up issues of intolerance, floods in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, drought situation in the country and price rise.

Three suo-moto statements were made in the house by the concerned ministers regarding the visit of External Affairs Minister to Islamabad, initiatives relating to road transport and highways for regional connectivity with focus on North-East and climate change.

On the other hand, Rajya Sabha passed only Bill pertaining to Negotiable instruments while no new Bills were introduced in the House during the ongoing winter session so far.

The Upper House discussed commitment to the Constitution, floods in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and Indo-Nepal relations. External Affairs Minister made a suo-moto statement on her visit to Islamabad.